Kerry says US ready to take more refugees
The United States will increase the number of refugees it takes in by 15,000 over each of the next two years, bringing the total to 100,000 by 2017, US Secretary of State John Kerry said after talks with his German counterpart on September 20.
The remarks may show increasing US willingness to help cope with the mass migration of Syrians although the offer is modest when compared with the hundreds of thousands that are moving to Europe and in particular, Germany.
Kerry did not say how many of the additional refugees would be from Syria but pledged that the United States was ready to help.
"In consultation with Congress, we will continue to explore ways to increase those figures while maintaining robust security," Kerry told a news conference after meeting German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
"The need is enormous, but we are determined to answer the call."
Kerry also announced he will hold talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week on ways to restart negotiations on a political solution to end Syria's war.
"We have agreed on certain formats and processes by which we should try and proceed," he said, adding that he would meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss the situation in Syria.
Kerry's comments on refugees address calls on US President Barack Obama to help more in the crisis. Obama has said the US will accept at least 10,000 Syrians over the coming year displaced by the four-year-old civil war.
His announcement comes ahead of a Sept. 23 emergency summit meeting of European Union leaders to address the stream of refugees that has overwhelmed the region.
He said the United States would like to take in more refugees in the coming year but needed additional funding from Congress to hire more people to process the refugees.